Shootout: AMR CD-77 vs. AR CD7 vs. Wadia 581se

Last week I had the pleasure of comparing three highly regarded CD players: the Audio Research Reference CD7, the Wadia 581se, and the Abbingdon Music Research (AMR) CD-77. While I am an audio manufacturers representative, I haven’t any dogs in this race (I have no financial, personal, or any other type of relationship with any of these manufacturers or their representatives). I have been considering upgrading the front end of my own system and had read quite a bit about the AMR, a small new company whose products I had never seen nor heard, only read about. Since the reviews of the unit were so positive, I decided to check it out for myself. The importer, Avatar Acoustics, put me in touch with there southern California representative, Brian Kyle of Xtreme AV. Brian was most gracious and allowed me to take an AMR CD-77 for a few days to evaluate. The particular unit Brian gave me had the latest output coupling capacitors, which I was told, made a substantial improvement over earlier units. Additionally, each of the six tubes in this unit only had one tube dampener on it. The AMR was designed (“voiced”) with two tube dampeners on each tube. Brian had removed one dampener from each tube in order to “adjust” the sound to his particular system (an obvious advantage of tubes). In his system, it sounded excellent, but more on that later…

With Brian’s unit in hand, I drove directly to an outstanding audio shop in San Diego that had both of the other units I was interested in comparing. The AR CD7 was in their “all AR” room, and the Wadia was set up in another room with Krell Evolution gear. On each system, I first listened to the CD player already hooked up, and then to the AMR. The same interconnects (top of the line Transparent Audio) and power cords were used for each machine to keep the playing field even. Lastly, I made sure that all of the equipment was warmed-up sufficiently.

The first system was composed of the following components:

AR Reference CD7
AR Reference 3 preamplifier
Two AR 610T power amplifiers (mono-blocks)
Wilson Maxx Series 2 speakers

On this system, the AR Ref 7 sounded lush and warm (remember, all the electronics are AR’s top-of-the-line tube gear, and that “warm” sound was expected). There was absolutely no hint of the dreaded “digital” glare that plagues so many other CD players. The system presented a convincing soundstage with very good presence. The midrange was excellent. Extreme highs & lows however, were lacking. After listening for a while, I realized that this “warm” sound (that was so seductive when I first started listening) was masking out the upper end detail that I knew should be there. Additionally, there should have been more mid and low-end bass. While the mid-range was strong, the over-all sound was tight and “compressed”. There was no sense of naturalness or openness in the music. Voices lacked the detail to make them believable. With my eyes closed, I wanted to be drawn into the performance; to be in front of the musicians. What I experienced was a powerful, overly warm audio system – the performers were never in the room with me.

Using the same cables, we swapped out the AMR. The difference was startling! That compressed dark sound was gone. The top end completely opened up and the detail was suddenly there. The low end also came out with weight and mass, but not exaggerated. Thankfully, there was no digital glare either! The AMR handled all the subtleties and dynamics beautifully. While the system still had that “warm” tube sound, the music had taken on a far more natural quality.

The second system was composed of the following components:

Wadia 581se
Krell Evolution 202 preamplifier
Krell Evolution 302 amplifier
Wilson Alexandria X2 speakers

As one would expect, nothing “warm” sounding here! This system had it all - lows, middle & highs, everything was there. Unfortunately, that includes a very digital sounding upper end. In fact the system was so resolving, that I found it hard to listen to (even though I know the associated electronics “added” to the sound, I will keep my comments limited to the CD players). Forgetting the digital sound for a moment, what came out of the Wadia was excellent. The high end was accurate and extended. Midrange was delicate and engaging. The low end was also strong and entirely there. Everything was as it should be, except that pesky digital glare…

Upon exchanging the AMR for the Wadia, the music (almost) sounded the same, but this time WITHOUT the digital glare! What a huge improvement! I don’t want to sound like an advertisement or something, but I was really impressed. From top to bottom, this unit did everything the Wadia did, but with the analogue sound of vinyl – no digital artifacts whatsoever.

When I got the AMR home and hooked up to my system, I was floored again. Music from this machine is engaging and full, as if it has layers. Bass reproduction is far superior to anything else I have hooked up at home. I had never heard bass like this from a CD player. The midrange was detailed, open and accurate. No digital glare from this unit at all. My CD’s sounded like they were vinyl - I didn’t want to stop listening. It was pure joy listening to music through it!

Now that I told you all of the things I enjoyed, I’ll tell you a few things I didn’t like about it. The AMR is big and heavy. Let me rephrase that; this thing can give you a hernia! I’m told that all that weight helps keep out vibrations. If you have to move the unit around a lot (as I do), you will have to keep eating your vitamins! I wasn’t terribly impressed with the styling of the unit either. At $8,500.00, I want the machine to look as great as it sounds. Some may like the styling, I didn’t care for it. In regards to what is important, the music, I did find one weakness: The upper end of the music seemed to be a bit thin – lacking in fullness or weight. Yes, I’m being critical, but it was audible. After returning the unit to Brian, it was explained to me that this lack of weight in the upper end was do to the second set of tube dampeners not being installed. This explanation makes sense to me. I didn’t notice the thinness at Brian’s home (all warm sounding tube gear) or while listening to the AR equipment. Perhaps I heard it while listening through the Krell system, but I would have attributed it to the sound of the Krell equipment itself. Adding or subtracting dampeners or changing the tubes themselves will have a profound effect upon the sound. I am fairly confident that the second set of dampeners (as designed) would have corrected this slight shortcoming on my system.

As far as I am concerned, this is an outstanding machine. My criticisms are negligible especially when considering the price of the AMR. Unless I can find a machine that sounds as good and easier to pick up, this is the unit I will be buying.
Ken G.